If ever a game was going to go down to the wire this was it. For the eighth year running there was only a score in it. Killian Keane's 79th minute penalty settling a typically titanic affair in front of an enthralled crowd of 7,000 at Dooradoyle yesterday.

Garryowen's priceless win over their old enemies, a first at Dooradoyle in six attempts dating back to the inaugural AIL season, leapfrogged them into the top four. As Jon Hall argued afterwards, theirs was the more fluent approach and as they did score the game's only two tries they arguably deserved it.

Furthermore, they tackled their socks off and literally put their bodies on the line, nowhere more so than when holding two concerted and ferocious Shannon lineout drives just before the interval to protect a merited 12-6 first-half lead; Keane blocking one Alan Quinlan surge and both props Niall Hartigan and Connie Botha getting underneath Quinlan and Galwey in turn.

Similar stuff was required for periods of the second-half but Shannon had little to offer behind the pack - three of their four tries against Dungannon the previous time out had been from line-out drives. Still, their pack won more than enough ball and they had more than enough territory to eke out more than just a bonus point, and if their flat, sluggish and toothless backs aren't kicking themselves then their forwards will readily volunteer to do it for them.

That's if David McHugh isn't within Shannon's range first. Both coaches quibbled with Ireland's leading referee, but Pat Murray seemed to have the greater grounds for complaint.

The game ultimately hinged on tit-for-tat penalties or non-penalties in the last quarter, and with Shannon trailing by 15-12 approaching the hour, Murray described as "criminal" McHugh's decision to signal a penalty for a high tackle by Keane on Paul McMahon, and then when Conor Burke missed the ensuing drop goal attempt, deemed that the advantage had been used up.

Shannon still drew level soon enough, Marcus Horan making a huge burst up the middle before Shannon's scrum caught the Garryowen backs offside. Keane restored Garryowen's advantage when Ross Leahy was taken out; Burke drew the sides level when Garryowen infringed at a ruck and in an ebb and flow finale Garryowen seemed to go over a Shannon ruck before McHugh subsequently penalised Alan Quinlan for playing the ball on the deck, Shannon's ?????(adamant)adamance that he was on his feet merely bringing Keane 10-metres closer to the posts for the match-winning kick.

Initially Keane had struggled to bisect the posts with a couple of penalties, but his distribution contributed to Garryowen's trademark right-to-left, skip moves which stretched the Shannon defence.

Either side of a couple of Paul Burke penalties, Paul Hogan made much ground off Burke's weak drop-out, and though Staunton again took too much out of Keane's miss pass, Dominic Crotty and the impressive Paul Wallace straightened the line and made room for Kevin O'Riordan to score in the corner.

Garryowen's second try also originated from their superior restart game. John O'Neill was nabbed in possession and from the scrum Keane skipped around Colm McMahon's tackle to score under the posts from 35 metres out.

With a vastly superior line-out, as Garryowen's again malfunctioned badly, the rest of the half and much of the second half belonged to Shannon, and though Paul McMahon's introduction gave them some potency, they didn't have the depth, the width or the wit to emulate Garryowen's first score, and Garryowen didn't have a soft centre akin to Shannon's for their second try.

In a tight and competitive top flight, with 10 teams still nurturing top four ambitions, this was a massive win for the home side, and if Shannon aren't to miss out on the play-offs again they're going to have to add to their try-scoring potential.

Scoring Sequence: 6 mins: Burke pen 0-3; 10: O'Riordan try 5-3; 23: Burke pen 5-6; 25: Keane try and con 12-6; half-time: 12-6; 54: Burke pen 12-9; 64: Burke pen 12-12; 68: Keane pen 1512; 74: Burke pen 15-15; 79: Keane pen 18-15.

Garryowen: D Crotty; M McNamara, J Staunton, K Hartigan, K O'Riordan; K Keane, T Tierney; N Hartigan, K Wood, R Laffan, S Leahy, D Peters, P Hogan, P Neville, D Wallace. Replacements: B O'Neill for O'Riordan (16 mins), C Botha for Laffan (23 mins), R Leahy for Peters (32 mins), A Bermingham for Neville (54 mins).

Shannon: Jason Hayes; J O'Neill, M lawlor, C McMahon, J Lacey; C Burke, P Stringer; M Horan, M McDermott, John Hayes, M Galwey, J Langford, A Quinlan, A Foley, E Halvey. Replacements - P McMahon for Jason Hayes (48 mins).

Referee: D McHugh (Munster).